United Nations said on Friday, that an air strike carried out by the Ethiopian government on the capital of the northern Tigray province forced one of the United Nations aid flights to abort a landing in the area.
People were fleeing the increased violence and fighting in the adjacent Amhara region.
According to humanitarian sources and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the air strike damaged a university in Mekelle, the provincial capital.
Legesse Tulu, a spokesperson for the government, claimed that the institution was not struck down , but a former military base occupied by TPLF insurgents was.
The air strike injured 11 civilians, according to Tigrai TV, which is controlled by the TPLF. Mekelle has been attacked for at least four time in this week.
After the United Nations plane carrying 11 passengers had to abort landing on Friday, the UN banned all the aid flights to Mekelle.
According to United Nations spokesperson Stephane Dujarric, the flight from Addis Ababa had been cleared by federal officials but was directed to abort the landing by the Mekelle airport control tower.
Gemma Connell, the head of United Nations’ humanitarian operations in southern and eastern Africa, told the media in New York on Friday that it was the first time, to her knowledge, that a flight had been forced to turn around in Ethiopia due to air strikes on the ground.
According to her, the passengers were the relief workers on their way to a region where 7 million people, including 5 million in Tigray, required humanitarian assistance.
Dujarric informed the reporters that the aborted aid flight arrived safely in, Ethiopia’s capital city of Addis Ababa.
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